Israel spurns U.N. plea to ease Gaza blockade

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel stood fast Wednesday by its decision to clamp shut cargo crossings at the Gaza Strip, brushing off pleas to ease the blockade from United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon.

Israel sealed the passages two weeks ago after a 5-month-old truce between Israel and Gaza militants started unraveling in an effort to halt rocket and mortar fire at Israeli border towns.

The crossings, a main source of imports to Gaza, have been cracked open occasionally to allow in fuel and vital supplies. But the closures have drastically reduced the amount of goods entering the already impoverished seaside territory of 1.4 million people, causing shortages of many basic goods.

On Tuesday, Ban called Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert “to express his deep concern over the consequences of the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza,” the U.N. said in a statement.

“He strongly urged the prime minister to facilitate the freer movement of urgently needed humanitarian supplies and of concerned United Nations personnel into Gaza,” the statement said.

Olmert said Israel was not to blame for the deterioration of conditions in Gaza, according to the prime minister’s office. “Gazans have only Hamas’ regime of terror to blame,” he said.

Hamas, an Islamic militant group committed to Israel’s destruction, has ruled Gaza since violently overrunning the territory in June 2007.

On Tuesday, the U.N.’s top human rights official, Navi Pillay, called for an immediate end to the blockade, saying Gazans “have been forcibly deprived of their most basic human rights for months.”

Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Army Radio on Wednesday that “there has to be quiet for the crossings to open.”